As the bear lumbered along, the steady, rhythmic swaying of its massive back, combined with the plush, warm fur beneath them, it triggered a shameless thought in Xuexin's fascinating mind.
She turned back to look at Luo He, her cheeks burning. Luo He smirked. "You're thinking it too?" Without another word, these two leaned into each other, the plush fur coat beneath them acting as their bed.
It felt like the most comfortable, stable bed in the world. The bear didn't dare utter a sound or stumble a single step. It kept itself entirely flat and smooth, trotting obediently like a living mattress of fur while its master enjoyed himself on its back.
Note to self, Luo He thought amidst the pleasure. "This is incredible. I definitely need to try this with my other wives later."
Suddenly, a dark shape swooped down from the sky.
A sleek black crow landed on a nearby branch, cackling briefly before dropping a small, blood-stained bamboo scroll onto Luo He's lap.
Luo He lazy demeanor shift by a hundred and eighty degrees, scanning the text. It was from Jun. The Crown Prince of Wu has been dealt with.
His head was severed, stuck atop a heavy spear, and returned directly to the Wu Kingdom's border as a warning. Meanwhile, the Second Prince of Yue is dead. Struck down by an untraceable, silent arrow.
The Yue faction is in utter chaos, screaming for investigations, but no one has found a single clue. Luo He tossed the scroll aside, letting it burn to ash with a flick of his finger.
"Good. Everything is moving on schedule."
Xuexin looked at him timidly, the post-coital glow painting her skin pink. "What happens to me after all this war is over?"
Luo He pulled her close, resting his chin on her shoulder. "First, I promised I'd take you to a bustling human market. You're too shy, too sheltered."
"We need to get you interacting with people so you stop jumping at your own shadow.
And second... after the wedding, I'm bringing you straight to my household."
"Your... your household?" She asked nervously. "You'll live with my other two wives. You'll hang out with them, get accustomed to them, and learn to be sisters without blood ties."
Luo He chuckled, nudging her cheek again. "Honestly, they'll be great for you. You suck at talking. You barely speak three proper sentences without faltering. They'll teach you how to articulate your thoughts."
Xuexin leaned back into his chest, feeling a deep, profound sense of safety she had never experienced in her thirty-four years of life. With him, her awkwardness melted away into a strange, expressive boldness.
"I can learn," she whispered softly. "As long as I can stay with you, Husband." Luo He grinned, teasing her slyly. "Husband? We aren't even married yet, you know."
"You're already my husband," she replied instantly, her voice firm. "In my heart, we've already consummated it a dozen times over. We're doing it right now. Calling you my husband a few days early isn't bad."
"Fair point," Luo He laughed. He ran a hand over her smooth waist, his tone playful. "So, my sweet 34-year-old wife... are you ready to get pregnant with my child?"
He meant it purely as a teasing poke, fully expecting her to blush, stammer, and hide her face in embarrassment. Instead, Xuexin turned around, grabbed his robes, and looked directly into his eyes with wild, unblinking intensity.
"Yes!" She begged, her breath hitching. "Please, Husband! Give me a baby! I want your child right now!" Luo He froze. The smug grin vanished from his face.
Now replaced by absolute, bewildered shock. He felt as if a physical sword had just been driven straight through his chest.
"Wait a minute. I'm 21! I'm too young for this! I was just teasing her!"
Panic flared in his mind as he looked at this eager, addicted woman who was utterly serious about turning him into a father of another child right here on the spot.
"Ah... hey, wifey, listen." Luo He stammered, frantically smoothing things over as he gently patted her back. "That's... great! Wonderful enthusiasm! But, uh, let's slow down just a tiny bit, okay?" He stammered.
"We'll have plenty of time for children after the wedding! Let's get through the war first, alright?" Xuexin beamed, hugging him tightly around the neck, completely oblivious to his internal crisis.
"Okay, Husband! Soon!" Luo He slumped back against the fur of the trembling bear, letting out a long, exhausted sigh.
For a man who could terrify wild beasts with a glare, he realized he had just walked right into a trap of his own making.
After spending two days with Xuexin, Luo He finally decided that it was time to return to the Prosperous Silk Isle.
The war had not paused merely because he had taken a few days for himself, and by the time he arrived back at the Jin estate, the situation surrounding the Wu capital had changed dramatically.
Gin Wenyuan had already surrounded the capital with nearly one hundred thousand men, while additional soldiers continued arriving every day, steadily tightening the ring around the city.
The Wu Kingdom had exhausted almost everything it possessed. Nearly three hundred and sixty thousand front line soldiers had already been committed to the wider conflict.
Two hundred thousand recruits had been gathered from villages, towns, and the capital itself. Those numbers looked impressive on paper, but they concealed the desperate reality behind them.
The majority of those recruits had never experienced a battlefield, and many had barely learned how to hold formation before being thrown into battle.
Inside the capital, barely forty thousand men remained. Only around twenty thousand could genuinely be considered trained soldiers.
The rest were peasants, laborers, ruffians, and desperate civilians pressed into service because there was simply nobody else left. They were not the sort of troops who could be expected to withstand a determined assault for long time.
The moment the walls were breached and genuine danger reached them, many would likely throw down their weapons and run.
Yet the capital had not surrendered. The emperor of Wu had nowhere left to flee.
Worse still, news of his Crown Prince's death had already reached him. The severed head of the Crown Prince was displayed before the soldiers of Wu, an unmistakable message.
Saying the heir who had once represented the kingdom's future was gone. Even so, the defenders remained. As long as the emperor still stood, another prince could theoretically inherit the throne.
If the war was somehow turned around the kingdom will still stand. That small slither of hope was enough to keep the kingdom fighting for long enough.
Luo He, meanwhile, had no any intention of allowing the war to become yet another simple siege. He had already gathered several ideas for opening the Wu Kingdom piece by piece.
It was like cracking a hard shell rather than smashing it with brute force. His thurrow preparations were therefore considerably more complicated than merely assembling an army and marching toward the capital.
He gathered the necessary equipment, loaded supplies onto carriages, and organized a convoy of roughly two or three thousand soldiers and support personnel.
The journey from the Prosperous Silk Isle to the Wu capital would take roughly ten to twelve days under favorable conditions, and Luo He intended to move quickly.
So that the siege would not have time to become stagnant. Before leaving, however, there remained several matters to settle.
Fei and Jin Su had already returned from The Pirate Island.
Fei had brought back the Grandmasters who had participated in the attack there, and Luo He decided to deal with them personally. Mulan stood beside him as the prisoners were brought forward.
Fei stood off to the side, his arms crossed, watching over the captured Grandmasters caught during the ill-fated assault on the pirate island.
Bound in heavy, iron chains, the five powerful warriors knelt in a jagged line. Beside Luo He stood Jin Mulan, her tall, martial frame radiating a lethal, silent pressure that made people shiver.
Luo He leaned forward casually, looking down at the five proud martial artists. "I'll make this simple." He said, his tone as casual as if gossiping.
"Is any of you willing to join me?"
The response was immediate. The lead Grandmaster spat a glob of wet phlegm onto the stone floor right near Luo He's boots, his eyes glaring with total defiance.
The others turned their heads away, their expressions hardened in utter refusal. Luo He sighed, drawing his dragon robe tighter around his shoulders.
"Honey, he's all yours." Jin Mulan didn't hesitate. She stepped forward, her elegant movements fluid and devoid of hesitation. Drawing her blade, she drove it downward in a blinding arc, severing the remaining leg of the crippled Grandmaster.
A agonized roar tore from the man's throat, but Mulan didn't even blink. "Drag him away," Mulan ordered coldly.
Two heavy armored guards stepped up, grabbed the screaming Grandmaster by his blood-soaked shoulders, and hauled him into the edge of the battlements.
Without a second thought, they heaved him over. A few heartbeats later, a dull, thud followed by a sickening CRACK echoed from the rocky ground far below.
Then a dark silence descended upon the wall.